Yesterday’s New England Patriots–Miami Dolphins game was the biggest mismatch since Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton. The Patriots, a perfect 6–0, came in looking like Jolie if she were stepping out of a milk bath; the 0–6 Dolphins looked like Billy Bob with a three-day growth. If you’re a New England fan, or just a masochist — or am I being redundant? — it was a perfect afternoon: the best team in pro football (maybe) against the worst team (probably).

A few years ago, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, forced a strike on the players’ union claiming the need for competitive balance. It was widely thought that baseball should aim for offering fans of every team the same chance of winning the championship as football fans supposedly enjoyed. That’s what the luxury tax in baseball was supposed to do: achieve the same level of competitiveness that the NFL’s salary cap brought to its league. Now it might be time for the NFL to start looking into how to reach the same level of competition as MLB.